Neogeo Battle Coliseum on XBLA! Has good netplay!

[bork]

Am I seeing actual effort being put in by SNK towards an Xbox Live Arcade port?    They've enhanced the sprites, added new backgrounds, and given the game a 16:9 aspect ratio!  Maybe the online won't suck, too.  We can only hope!

http://cyberfanatix.com/neo-geo-battle-coliseum-xbox-live-arcade-preview/

[MCD]

garou needed that 16:9 ratio so bad

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

garou needed that 16:9 ratio so bad

that would have been real damn tricky to do, this, considerably less so.

SNK usually gets it right eventually.  Considering how practically all of their output consists of revisions of earlier games, you'd think they'd be better at it.  Oh well, this will be awesome, just as NGBC is already awesome, and the next KOF will actually be worth buying.

[Jansen]

i don't care how awesome it is snk isn't getting my money again.

[Bebpo]

By "looks good" you mean "has shitty smoothing filters applied"?

[Enl]

Looks pretty decent but goddammit they really need to fix their online. I'd probably put as much time into their games as I have with SFIV if it weren't for every other match lagging.

[bork]

garou needed that 16:9 ratio so bad

that would have been real damn tricky to do, this, considerably less so.

SNK usually gets it right eventually.  Considering how practically all of their output consists of revisions of earlier games, you'd think they'd be better at it.  Oh well, this will be awesome, just as NGBC is already awesome, and the next KOF will actually be worth buying.

I bet they got someone new to do this version; people kept saying the previous XBLA games were outsourced to some Chinese company.  After XII and Sen, they have to do a good job to get players back.

Speaking of Sen, it appears that Ignition has cancelled Samurai Shodown Edge Of Destiny in the U.S.  Smart move!

i don't care how awesome it is snk isn't getting my money again.

Don't blame you.

By "looks good" you mean "has shitty smoothing filters applied"?

No, I mean "looks good" as in "they are using a different type of filtering technique that makes the sprites fit in nicely with the higher resolution."  Not the same effect as usual.   It's hard to tell from those screens, but it reminds me of KOF '94 ReBout...



...although still not as good. 

Looks pretty decent but goddammit they really need to fix their online. I'd probably put as much time into their games as I have with SFIV if it weren't for every other match lagging.

We'll just have to wait and see.  My hope is that they've learned from the KOF XII disaster.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Netcode will suck.

[MoxManiac]

Netcode will suck.

Yes.

Though NGBC gets mad props for the characters chosen to be in it.

Mudman

[muckson]

i'm buying it FO SHO.

[originalz]

Is Sen a shitty port or something?  I know the game sucks, but is there any word how the port is?  I'm sure it'll be one of those games which hits 2000yen within a month.

[bork]

No idea.  I don't see why it would be a shitty port-- it's a Type X-2 game, IIRC, and certainly nothing the 360 couldn't handle.

There's one guy on Neo-Geo.com who bought the game -and he likes it  - but SHOCKINGLY, he said when he went to try it out online, NOBODY was playing!     He's in Korea, too, so it's not a time zone thing.

I wonder if Sen has even surpassed 3000 copies in sales yet.  I'm gonna say no!

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

So SNK isn't applying a filter to the sprites, they've actually re-done them.



A for effort SNK.  Now make everything else work.

[Bebpo]

Yet it looks like most filters.  Everything is smoothed out and has the ugly pastel look without detail.

[bork]

No, it looks like they used the same sprite-filtering technique they used for ReBout, like I said before.  I think it looks pretty good, but it's not the graphics to be concerned about; they need to work on getting their online play up to par.

[bork]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Beezy]

Looks good, but it seems so stiff. Anyone here ever played it before? How is it?

[bork]

Looks good, but it seems so stiff. Anyone here ever played it before? How is it?

The guy playing in the video has absolutely no idea what he is doing.  It's not a very good example of what NGBC actually plays like.  Animation is on the same level as KOF XI; it's probably the most "Capcom" like of all the SNK games from the last few years.  The game is basically a tag fighter built off of the engine from SvC Chaos, but done right.  It's got its share of balance issues (Kim and Mr. Big dominate the game, IIRC), but it's still pretty solid.  Lots of fun characters to use, thankfully the cast is not just a bunch of KOF characters with a few other faces thrown in; they range from obscure (Kisarah from Aggressors Of Dark Kombat), to popular (Marco from Metal Slug), to the nostalgic (Hanzo, Fuuma, and Mudman from World Heroes, Lee Pai Long from Art Of Fighting).  Even most of the KOF characters there don't play the same as they used to and some of them got entirely new sprites.  Basically NGBC is SNK's version of a versus game (after Kizuna Encounter).  Tag attacks and team supers are there, and it's combo-crazy.  If you ever played the PS2 port of KOF XI, Tung, Mr. Big, Geese, Mai, and Robert were all taken right from NGBC.

Here a tournament video.  If anything, watch the last couple of minutes...the comeback at the end is  .
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Beezy]

That looks so much better. It doesn't even seem like the same game!

Hopefully it plays well online.

[bork]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Beezy]

hotness

[bork]

It's still weird seeing some actual effort being put into an SNK game, port or not, after the KOF XII and SS Sen disasters.  I wonder if this is being handled by the same people who made the PS2 versions of KOF '98 UM and 2002 UM, since those are awesome too.  But the online is what nobody has any idea about.  They need to step their game up badly.

[originalz]

Check it out!

[Junpei the Tracer!]

But I already own the PS2 version :/

[originalz]

Online play seems pretty damn good, much better than SNK's previous offerings.  I was playing people in the 200 ping range and had minimal lag, less than 100 was lagless, although mainly against other Japanese people so that's pretty standard.

[Beezy]

800pts?

[Robo]

I might check this out.  Not big on SNK fighters, but this always seemed pretty neat for what it is.

[Shino]

Online play seems pretty damn good, much better than SNK's previous offerings.  I was playing people in the 200 ping range and had minimal lag, less than 100 was lagless, although mainly against other Japanese people so that's pretty standard.

maybe that's good news for KoFXIII?

I have the PS2 one as well, but I heard the graphical filters they put into this version make it look a lot better.

[bork]

Just got it.

-The text is 100% English this time.
-Story mode, survival mode, vs. mode, practice, and Live match types.
-You get a choice between normal and arranged music.
-Character color edit is in.
-The visuals are a mixed bag. Backgrounds look fantastic, some sprites just look WEIRD with this new filtering scheme.
-Control is very responsive. You could even play it with a stock 360 controller decently.
-Online interface is the same as previous XBLA games.  It's clunky but doable.  You can still see your opponent's ping before a match.

Now for the big deal, the online play.  I haven't played a huge number of matches, but my early impressions are that NGBC's online is far better than any of the XBLA games SNK has put out so far.  Where does that put the game?  In the "decent" range.  If you play people with 150 ping or lower, you should be good to go.  Anything higher will result in lag, but with that said, even 260+ ping matches I played were a hell of a lot smoother than anything in KOF XII.   

But I already own the PS2 version :/

This version is better.

-No load times.  The PS2 version has some of the longest load times of any fighting game released in the last decade.
-It looks good on HDTVs/monitors.
-16:9 aspect ratio.

Really, even if the online was complete shit, this version would still be worth it for the load times alone.  You don't need the PS2 version with this out.

[Sho Nuff]

I remember KOF95 for Saturn with the fucking awesome ROM cart

I was like "OH MY GOD SO MANY CHARACTERS I MUST MASTER THEM ALL, PLUS NO LOAD TIMES AHHHH!"

I didn't master any of them

[Saint Cornelius]

For a second I thought this was Card Battle.

[iconoclast]

Nice, it seems everyone is pleased with netcode. Definitely going to buy this later today or tomorrow. Been grinding Resonance of Fate so I haven't had a chance to try EWJ or this yet.

[Beezy]

I tried the EWJ not too long ago and it's boring. I'm getting this and Snoopy Flying Ace today.

[Enl]

Got in about 8 matches today, none of which had lag. So either I got lucky or they actually did improve the netcode. I wished the lobbies were bigger though.

Also very glad to see that the color edit is in and you can bring the edits into the online matches as well. (Zombie Mai!)

[bork]

I really hope this is a sign that SNK has stepped up and their netcode won't be shit from here on out.  PLEASE make KOF 2002 UM play just as well!  And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE push it even harder and make KOF XIII AWESOME online, SNK.

I tried the EWJ not too long ago and it's boring. I'm getting this and Snoopy Flying Ace today.

Yeah, with EWJ I will definitely try the demo first.  If it's not for me, I'll get Doom II instead I think.

[Beezy]

I bought it. Playing now.

[Beezy]

Who are the easiest characters to start out with?

[bork]

I've played close to 40 ranked matches and maybe an hour or so of random player matches.  Out of those matches, *three* were laggy.  Out of those three, one had horrible input lag.  The guy picked Kaede and just spammed one of his specials, and there wasn't much I could do about it.  (Fortunately I was able to spam a few of Tung's specials myself and beat him anyway.  )   This was against a player from Mexico, although I played two good matches against another Mexican player where the connection was good. 

So there's no doubt about it- this game has much better net code than last year's SNK games. 

Sometimes it doesn't even seem to matter if the other player has say, 260 ping.  It will still be smooth.

Who are the easiest characters to start out with?

Here's a great beginner's guide: http://www.shoryuken.com/wiki/index.php/NeoGeo_Battle_Coliseum

Go to practice mode and mess around with everybody.  Who do you like to use in Street Fighter?

Maybe to start with, check out Terry, Ryo, Robert Iori, Kaede, Jin Chonshu, Hanzo, Haohmaru, and Fuuma for your "FB/DP" characters, Washizuka and Athena for your "Guiles," and Mr. Big for your "Bison."  King Lion is the closest thing to a boxer-type character; he's got rushing punches, a counter, but also projectile-style moves.  Hotaru is really cool and can even change into a Phoenix stance like Xiaoyu from Tekken.

Most people say that the best characters in the game are Kim and Mr. Big, but I wouldn't pick your characters based on tiers.  My favorites are Tung Fu Rue and Mai for the time being.  Tung is fun as hell to use.

One thing you will find about SNK fighters is that they don't stick to the norms you'd find in other fighting games-- a lot of characters are more like "jack of all trades" types and have both charge and fb/dp moves.  Also their grapplers are more unique.  NGBC has a lot of characters that don't really play like other 2D fighting game characters.

And if you're used to KOF, this game may use some of the same sprites, but it doesn't play the same way.  NGBC is more "Capcom-like," IMO.  You'll find it easier to pick up and play than a lot of other SNK games, and (S)SF4, for that matter.

[demi]

For a second I thought this was Card Battle.

I would buy it on count of it being a card game. My only experience with the card game is the bugged DS game though.

[Beezy]

Thanks lyte, I'll try Mr. Big. I like K' and Hanzo so far. Can't remember the names of anyone else I tried.

[bork]

For a second I thought this was Card Battle.

I would buy it on count of it being a card game. My only experience with the card game is the bugged DS game though.

Did they ever fix the bugs?  Thought they did a recall...

[originalz]

So many goddamn spammers playing this online.  People think that if they do Kaede's rush shit and Tung's muscle attack nonstop they'll win or something.  Caught me offguard a few times at first, but it's so bloody easy to beat if you're aware of what's going on.  Haha, they seem to get really flustered when their technique stops working.

Wateva tho, Shiki is the best character!  This isn't a game about "tiers", just have some fun and mess around, all of the characters play very differently and you can't play it like you would a normal fighter.

Did they ever fix the bugs?  Thought they did a recall...

Even without the bugs the game still sucked and had such a horrendous translation that you had no idea what the cards did half of the time.

[bork]

So many goddamn spammers playing this online.  People think that if they do Kaede's rush shit and Tung's muscle attack nonstop they'll win or something.  Caught me offguard a few times at first, but it's so bloody easy to beat if you're aware of what's going on.  Haha, they seem to get really flustered when their technique stops working.

Haven't run into any Tung spammers, but I can believe it.  The Kaede rush spammer I got is the one I mentioned in a previous post. 

Amazingly, I got a FLOWCHART KEN player.  He picked Hanzo and literally just sat on the other side of the screen doing random dragon punches and the like.  I put my controller down and was just watching this. 

Wateva tho, Shiki is the best character!  This isn't a game about "tiers", just have some fun and mess around, all of the characters play very differently and you can't play it like you would a normal fighter.

You can apply that to every fighting game.  Too many people worry about what the "pros" think.  If you aren't a hardcore tournament-going player, a lot of that shit doesn't apply.

Even without the bugs the game still sucked and had such a horrendous translation that you had no idea what the cards did half of the time.

Ah well.  I had some fun with the original on the Neo Pocket way back when.

[bork]

I played a guy with a horrible connection.  Lag-city.  Beat his spam with counter-spam.

He sends me this voice message: "Dude, THAT'S how you play?!?  You are straight garbage foo'!  That's the only move you was doing that whole freaking game.  You's a pussy-ass player, you Japan garbage-playing taco!"

[MoxManiac]

Need an Xbox so I can get my Mudman on!

[Sho Nuff]

WTF? I just played the demo and the character on the left-hand side of the screen was nicely smoothed out, and the character on the right was a jaggy mess of pixels

[bork]

I keep getting rage-quitters.  Even got a guy asking if I wanted to boost.     The scrubs are here en masse.

WTF? I just played the demo and the character on the left-hand side of the screen was nicely smoothed out, and the character on the right was a jaggy mess of pixels

Weird glitch!  Should have taken a picture!

[Enl]

Yeah pretty much most of my matches have been from people spamming the same move over and over, and not blocking basic attacks.

[Beezy]

Yeah pretty much most of my matches have been from people spamming the same move over and over, and not blocking basic attacks.

Leave us noobs alone!

[originalz]

I keep getting rage-quitters.  Even got a guy asking if I wanted to boost.     The scrubs are here en masse.

Hah, boost to 25 wins?  At least the online achievements are easy here, not like 98's win 10 matches in a row (I lost on my 9th match, bloody hell)!

Still tho, your record is pretty impressive Lyte!  You were around like 50/18 when I checked yesterday!

This is a really fun game, I never really got into it when it was in the arcades, but I'm loving this netplay and hope it can keep a community.  Best part is that 2002UM should also be playable online!  Ah, if only they would patch their older games with this new netcode...

[Enl]

Great matches Lyte!

I'm still learning the ropes at the moment but by the end of our matches I was starting to get a better hang of things. I may end of having to switch to a pad on this one since I was having issues pulling off a lot of the inputs with a stick. If you saw me random throwing off some jumping punch/uppercut in the distance that was me trying to get the timing down for some of the moves. For the life of me I could not get Mr. Karate's rapid punch to come out instead of an uppercut. Also wish there was an infinite time option since battle can go for epic lengths.

[bork]

I keep getting rage-quitters.  Even got a guy asking if I wanted to boost.     The scrubs are here en masse.

Hah, boost to 25 wins?  At least the online achievements are easy here, not like 98's win 10 matches in a row (I lost on my 9th match, bloody hell)!

Still tho, your record is pretty impressive Lyte!  You were around like 50/18 when I checked yesterday!

My rank's gone down a bunch...I'm like 60-something and 20-30 losses now.  LOTS more competition today.  The best win/loss record I ever got in an online fighter was Tekken 6.  Something like 90+ wins, 10-15 losses on both Xbox 360 and PS3 with Alisa. 

This is a really fun game, I never really got into it when it was in the arcades, but I'm loving this netplay and hope it can keep a community.  Best part is that 2002UM should also be playable online!  Ah, if only they would patch their older games with this new netcode...

With SNK I would NOT bet on the next game having good net code, unfortunately.  I hope it does and NGBC has made me more positive about it, but you never know.  If 2002 UM has good or better online play than NGBC, I think everyone's gonna drop this game for 2002 UM.

Great matches Lyte!

I'm still learning the ropes at the moment but by the end of our matches I was starting to get a better hang of things. I may end of having to switch to a pad on this one since I was having issues pulling off a lot of the inputs with a stick. If you saw me random throwing off some jumping punch/uppercut in the distance that was me trying to get the timing down for some of the moves. For the life of me I could not get Mr. Karate's rapid punch to come out instead of an uppercut. Also wish there was an infinite time option since battle can go for epic lengths.

Same with me...there were a number of matches we played where I kept trying to get off Athena's level 3 super to no avail.  If you were wondering why I suddenly turned into a moving target, that's why.     It's just a QCF, HCB+Kick motion, but for some reason ONLY this move almost never comes out when I do it. 

Anyway, Athena and Mr. Big are fun, fun, fun!  I tried them in ranked after we played and got soundly thrashed...lost like 6 matches in a row using them.  But it's just a matter of getting used to them.  This game has a crapload of incredibly fun characters.  My time with the arcade version was brief and I never really got into the PS2 version (nobody really wanted to play it and then Tenka and KOF XI came along), so I feel like I'm finally getting the chance to enjoy NGBC after all this time.

I would fucking LOVE IT if SNK gave SS Tenka and KOF XI the same treatment that NGBC got.  A port of KOF MI Regulation A (all it needs is a resolution bump) would be ace too, but that's probably too big for an XBLA game. 

Fingers crossed that 2002 UM turns out just as well as this did online.

[Beezy]

I'm really sucking at this game and even though all the specials are easy to do I still have problems pulling them off sometimes. I might need a pad too. I'm playing with the 360 controller for now because I have serious problems with the inputs on the stick.

I'm sticking with it though. The characters are really fun to use.

[bork]

I'm really sucking at this game and even though all the specials are easy to do I still have problems pulling them off sometimes. I might need a pad too. I'm playing with the 360 controller for now because I have serious problems with the inputs on the stick.

I'm sticking with it though. The characters are really fun to use.

The input windows are tighter than say, Street Fighter IV.  I have a bit of trouble every now and then too...even if the lag isn't noticeable to you, it could be that's what's messing you up a bit.  It takes some getting used to.

[Beezy]

0/26 :'(

I'm not going back on ranked until I can beat arcade and survival without dying. I would do online player matches, but I never see anyone there.

[bork]

0/26 :'(

I'm not going back on ranked until I can beat arcade and survival without dying. I would do online player matches, but I never see anyone there.

That's not really going to be much help to you.  You need to learn some combos/strategies and go from there.  Try GameFAQs...there's a topic or two on some good beginner combos/strategies I've started using.

For player matches, there's definitely less people.  In both ranked and player matches, I always host.  Even when it shows no one is available when searching, I get people joining my games.

[Bebpo]

Finally tried the demo of this.  Man, load times are nice!  I wish I had this version of the game 5 years ago when it came out on PS2, would have actually been able to enjoy the game!

Will pick it up when I get a X360 controller with a real d-pad or they port it to PS3.  Don't like using a stick for SNK fighters.

[MoxManiac]

Once my points card comes in the mail, i'm gonna get this. 800 points right?

[bork]

Finally tried the demo of this.  Man, load times are nice!  I wish I had this version of the game 5 years ago when it came out on PS2, would have actually been able to enjoy the game!

Will pick it up when I get a X360 controller with a real d-pad or they port it to PS3.  Don't like using a stick for SNK fighters.

It's not being ported to PS3.  Fight pad is what you need if you don't want to use a stick...

Once my points card comes in the mail, i'm gonna get this. 800 points right?

Yessir!

[Bebpo]

eh, at some point I think all these SNK XBLA fighters will come to PSN.  It'd be stupid not too, especially in Japan where PS3 dominates between the two.  All they have to do is quickly port it and rake in money.

I'm sure MS has these locked up exclusive for a certain amount of time, but eventually they'll all come to PS3.  Maybe on a disc as a collection or something.